Medical marijuana is certainly helpful for people in great pain, many of whom use the drug in the same way they would use a pain reliever like codeine. The difference between codeine and cannabis is that the latter has a very distinct, largely negative image in cultureâ€”an image that carries baggage and connotations Christians must consider if they are thinking of using marijuana, even for medical reasons.

When I was in grad school, several of my colleagues smoked marijuana. I do not doubt that smoking marijuana relieved the aches and pains of my 20-something cohorts. But I wonder if "medical assistance" is the primary reason they were using it. More likely they consumed it in the way Oscar on Arrested Development didâ€”enjoying "primo bud" under the auspices of the legal right to medical marijuana....